The Bode Museum belongs to the group of museums on Museum Island
in Berlin and is a historically preserved building. The museum was
designed by architect Ernst von Ihne and completed in 1904. Originally
called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum after Kaiser Friedrich III, the
museum was renamed in honor of its first curator, Wilhelm von Bode, in
1956.

Closed for repairs since 1997, the museum is scheduled to reopen
on October 18, 2006, at which point it will be the home for a collection
of sculptures, Byzantine art, and coins and medals.

The sculpture collection shows art of the Christian Orient (with
an emphasis on Coptic Egypt), sculptures from Byzantium and Ravenna,
sculptures of the Middle Ages, the Italian Gothic, and the early
Renaissance. Late German Gothic works are also represented by Tilman
Riemenschneider, the south German Renaissance, and Prussian baroque art
up to the 18th century. In the future selected works of the
Gemäldegalerie will be integrated into the sculpture collection. This is
reminiscent of William von Bode's concept of "style rooms", in which
sculptures, paintings, and crafts are viewed together, as was usual in
upper middle-class private collections.

The Münzkabinett ("coin cabinet"), currently housed at the
neighboring Pergamon Museum, is one of the world's largest numismatic
collections. Its range spans from the beginning of minting in the
seventh century B.C. in Asia Minor up to the present day. With
approximately 750,000 items the collection is a unique archive for
historical research, while its medal collection makes it an important
art exhibition at the same time.